In-form Luton were ruthless in punishing their visitors, with Jack Stacey drilling home an early opener after he got in behind the Albion defence, and James Collins then converting a penalty won after Danny Hylton was felled by Stephen Quinn.

Clough made only the single change to his starting XI after the Boro win, with Devante Cole replacing Jake Buxton.

Dejection for Jamie Allen after Luton Town take the lead (Image: Richard Burley/Epic Action Imagery)

And while the Brewers boss says mistakes did not help his side's cause, he suggests that he would make more wholesale switches if given the chance again.

"Luton had won five on the spin before this, and we knew they were going to be extremely difficult," said Clough.

"I was very pleased with the way we started the game, the first 15 minutes.

"Then we make a mistake, our match-winner from Tuesday night (Jake Hesketh) switches off, their lad gets in, scores a goal and we're chasing the game from that point.

"So it was just the one change, and we thought the lads have been on a high, they were good in training yesterday.

"But with all the will in the world and the effort that's gone in again today, there's no question marks about that, it was excellent as it has been all week - but obviously we weren't at our freshest against a very good team."